Turing Machine

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New York City, NY [1998 - Present]

Justin ChearnoScott de SimonJerry Fuchs

The Story

The Jade Tree - Turning Machine connection is far more outstretched than their first album's copyright date might lead you to believe. Instead, the story begins sometime in 1992. Jade Tree was just beginning to spread its wings into new and exciting musical genres and, at the time, there was no band in Washington, D.C. as new and exciting as Pitchblende.

Art-damaged and metronomically challenged, Pitchblende thwarted typical punk euphemisms for energy by making even the most angular riffing sound, well, funky. Jade Tree released a 7-inch single for the band in 1992, and then a split EP with Eggs a little over a year later. In between, Pitchblende left a three album legacy for Cargo/Matador, culminating with the utterly brilliant - though admittedly confusing - Gygax! in 1995.

When the band split up shortly thereafter, guitarist Justin Chearno and bassist ScottDeSimon found themselves about four hours north in New York City. Splitting their time between day jobs and sporadic musical ventures - Chearno is still a part of the Doldrums project, who record for Chicago's proto-ambient Kranky label - the pair inevitably found themselves playing together again in 1999. Gerard Fuchs, an old friend of the duo, was immediately picked up from Vineland - the group he played drums in alongside ex-BitchMagnet icon Jon Fine - and with that the band plunged in to begin writing A NewMachine For Living, their opening set for Jade Tree.

Taking its cue from their art-punk pasts, while nodding to the kraut, progressive, and modern indie rock movements, Turing Machine's sound is probably more analog than digital - surprising, considering the invaluable input of typically-techno producers TimGoldsworthy and James Murphy, who manned the board for the debut.